panasonic is well known in the consumer electronics business, and since 1982, the company also began making a series of rugged and semi-rugged notebooks called toughbooks. these notebooks are thicker and sturdier than your average notebooks and, specializing in outdoor use, are hugely popular in the military space.

before these toughbooks get sent out the door, they go through a series of laboratory-based torture tests to see if they can withstand everything from vibrations to explosive atmosphere testing.

the main manufacturing plant is located in kobe, japan, which is where the real magic happens, but panasonic also has a dedicated engineering facility in secaucus, nj. panasonic graciously invited a pc magazine reporter to its new jersey site to crack open a panasonic toughbook cf-29 and see, firsthand, the various laptop test torture chambers.

what makes a toughbook tough?the advantages of being a core manufacturer (i.e., it builds all of its laptops from the core on out) is that all of the toughbook's major components (except cpu and hard drive) are manufactured internally. they even build the robots that put these systems together!

panasonic also has its own magnesium alloy press, which molds and forms the strong metallic composite surrounding all toughbooks. the hinges use an even thicker magnesium alloy composite capable of withstanding 50,000 openings and closings, and each component is compartmentalized and easily removable. the cf-29, for example, has a hard drive that's fully immersed in a thick metal case with a rubberized interior, and a flexible connector located at the end helps remove the drive from the motherboard with ease.

whether it's the removable battery or wireless device (gps or wireless wan), each compartment has a water proof lining to protect again virtually any kind of wet weather event. the keys are tested and approved to withstand temperatures exceeding 140 degrees and -20 degrees fahrenheit.

the torture testsit isn't just the keyboard that's expected to withstand hell-on-earth and antartic-like temperatures.

one torture test puts the whole notebook through the temperature ringer. the stainless steel, airtight halt (highly accelerated life tests) chamber applies a broad range of hot and cold temperatures to detect and address design issues early in the toughbook's development life cycle . to reach the proper cold temperatures, the panasonic engineer slowly pipes in liquid nitrogen. during the heat tests, the chamber acts more like a convection oven. overall, the engineer starts with a baseline temperature (high or low) and continues raising (or lowering) this temperature until the product begins to perform abnormally. toughbooks are subjected to fast temperature swings: a process that's helpful in detecting thermal sensitivity (i.e., how soon can you see the keys crack or melt).

the halt chamber also has a stress vibration component right below where the notebook sits. engineers bolt down the notebook to prevent tumbling and, using 3-point axis vibration testing, simulate various environmental scenarios like driving over a rocky terrain or turbulence on a an airplane. combining temperature and vibration testing increased the odds of finding any design weaknesses.

with all the wireless capabilities in a toughbook, including a gps device, wireless wan, wlan, and bluetooth, an anechoic (waterproof and rf-proof) chamber is ideal for emi (electro-magnetic interference) measurements.

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once sealed, this chamber, unlike the halt chamber, is completely soundproof and rf-proof; the entire chamber is lined with large pyramidal absorbers designed to maintain the best sound reflection level performance. the notebook is placed inside the chamber, on top of a turntable that rotates at varying speeds. all the testing is computer automated and recorded into a digital database where all the data is analyzed for the efficiency of the antenna's throughput (mostly for wwan, although panasonic tests wi-fi and bluetooth throughput as well).

of course, these are only a fraction of the tests involved in toughening up a panasonic notebook. other tests may include 3-foot drops, water-resistance, dust-resistance, and electrical discharge, to name a few. if only all notebooks were this tough....

Cisco Cheng is the Lead Analyst of the laptop team at PCMag.com. He’s a one-man wrecking crew who tests and writes about anything considered a laptop (yes, even netbooks). He’s been with PC Mag for over 10 years and gets occasional headaches from all the technical knowledge he has absorbed during that time. He’d still be snowboarding and playing basketball had he not been through multiple knee surgeries (well, two). Now he spends his time with Google Reader, the iPhone 3G, and his now 3-year...
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